Adopted Children Have Accomplished “Siblings”

June 9, 2007

There are many ways to create community. Parents who adopt children
often struggle with teaching them about their roots, which can be
hard to define. There are a number of ways adoptive parents already
bring their child(ren)’s roots into their family lives. Parents of
one race who adopt a child of another might ask friends of their
children’s race to serve as godparents. Adoptive parents of one
religion might expose their adopted child, whose racial/ethnic or
cultural background is closely associated with another, to the
religion he or she “came from”. Families who adopt children from
another country might regularly make trips to that country,
establish ties with local families, providing their adopted child
with “cultural” brothers and sisters.

Here’s a fun way to expand on the notion of community and roots for
your adopted child(ren), if discussing adoption is already a part
of your family life. Below is a list of “famous” or accomplished
adopted children. The list is not meant to assume anything negative
about the experience of being an adopted child (in other words,
that adopted children are disadvantaged and therefore particularly
special when they “succeed”). Rather, this list is meant for those
children who might be struggling with their identity as an adopted
child, and who may find it heartening or inspiring that other
adopted children have grown up to do so much.

All children are precious, special individuals. Let’s celebrate the
accomplishments of some and the promise of still more to come!

*If your family includes adopted children and you’ve struggled with
the issues of roots and community, leave a comment sharing ways
your family has addressed these concerns. The more you share, the
more we learn.